Ego-centric power.
Or, I can make this thing run better than PG &E. So I took Miriam's wonderful "necker nob" project and pursued it down to the local, old time auto part store, to see what they would have, and sure enough, over by the fuzzy dice and seat covers was the object of my search. Unfortunately, they only had one motif, Corvette crossed rally flags. Didn't see that with pre-1920's sewing machines.
Here are my early attempts around that.[ATTACH=CONFIG]483320[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]483323[/ATTACH]
Basically it's made up of a 5/16" "J-bolt, a block of wood about 3/4" x 3/4" by about 2-1/8" with a 5/16 thru hole, and a 5/16" half-way thru hole centerlines about 1" apart. Some kind of spacers, collar, old bearings or something to get where the nut will clamp the block on the rim of the hand crank (or balance wheel). You may have to open theJ-bolt a tad for some machines, like my "Household". If so, adjust the spacing to fit. then you need a 5/16 or 8mm washer, and then a nut. Tighten up on the rim, and use a rasp to make the profile of the clamping block fit better if you want. Or just hold it still and wrench down HARD! then take a chunk of tree branch, deer antler, old wooden curtain rod or whatever and drill a 5/16" hole thru it also. (This is where it gets tricky, if you use a drill press, it will break your fingers unless you clamp it tightly. But that's okay, because while it's spinning on the drill bit, you can use sharp pointy things to kind of rough it down to a more "handle" shape! And the blood will just stain it dark after 24 hrs or so. Or you could, if you're wimpy like me, chuck it somehow into a small lathe and turn it kind of "roundy".[ATTACH=CONFIG]483324[/ATTACH] When you're satisfied with a degree of "roundiness" you could even spin some finish on it and buff it, don't let that rag spin around the part more than a few dozen times, cause the inertia will eventually send it flying towards the dog!